The Off Price Show 2013

With little more than a month until the doors are opened to the UK’s leading fashion stock event, esteemed wholesale companies and a wave of exciting new exhibitors will display unrivalled offers over two days of invigorating trading.

Following the growing success of past events, the 23rd successful edition of the Off-Price Show has been expanded to incorporate a bigger and better range of stock, including high quality apparel, footwear, accessories with major brands, exclusive lines, sportswear giants, ex-chainstore ranges and niche labels at a massive 70% off normal wholesale prices.

The show is held over the two days on 22nd-23rd September 2013, and in addition to a comprehensive trading platform, there are additional benefits for buyers who attend. FREE Business Improvement seminars will help visitors to fight the current challenges, stay ahead of competitors, gain knowledge and advantageous tips from our expert speakers. There are also quality catering facilities where a selection of food and beverages will be served, enabling a relaxed forum for meetings between visits to the show floor.

Event Director, Buzz Carter, told MTN, “The Autumn show will be excellent for buyers as we have a number of new companies alongside show favourites. We will have the largest sportswear selection for a few years alongside traditional casual and formal fashion wear, together with great designer brands, denim and outdoor wear.”

Other suppliers showcasing this September include Eles Clothing and Trafford Wholesale who can provide a vast range of ex-chainstore stock from the biggest names on the high street.

Leading manufacturers such as Design House have the capacity to supply additional end of season stock, cancelled orders, returns and surplus high fashion apparel that are developed for some of the biggest names in the industry such as M&S, Topshop, Next and Austin Reed.

Major wholesalers will be supplying current and past season stock, from top designer names such as Armani, Gucci and Calvin Klein, while at the sporting end of the spectrum, casual wear giants including Nike, Adidas and Reebok will be made available by long standing experienced suppliers such as Topgrade Sportswear and Ski and Sport.

Award winning, up-and-coming companies such as Room 31 Wholesale prove that with the right stock at the right prices, businesses can continue to flourish despite challenging times, with other successful companies such as Q Clothing expanding.

An expanded edition of the Off-Price Show set to be the best yet its lines to include more childrenswear, and consistently adding exciting new brands. Top quality unbranded imports and cut-label products will also be available as well as companies’ own labels.

This wide variety of products creates an ideal environment for retailers, market traders, wholesalers and ebayers to increase their profit margins and source collections from the best suppliers in the market. The majority of the products will be available from stock or short order. This flexibility means buyers do not have to place large forward orders and can adapt their offering to the seasons’ latest trends at a moment’s notice, while larger retail buyers will also be able to source substantial orders with pieces supplied by the thousands.

All who visit the Off-Price Show will see first hand the great bargains and discounts that are on offer, with an unmissable opportunity to meet new suppliers, network with colleagues and enhance business. Conveniently located at London’s Olympia, the event is situated very close to the M4 (with M25 interchange not far away), and easily reached by overground, underground and bus connections.

Adam Corbally Talks Markets with MTN.

I am lucky enough to have just returned from a weeks holiday in an affordable paradise a lot of us Brits have made our annual escape, Egypt.

The day I arrived back in the good old green land I love to call my home, tragically, as we all know too well, there are the troubles in Cairo, although where we stayed far away in Hurgarda it was so peaceful and relaxed you wouldn’t have a clue that you were in the same country, that was until you happened to walk past a shop, or anyone selling anything for that matter, when all of a sudden you were bartering with one of the locals whether you liked it or not and being plain rude was sometimes the only way to say no.

Now don’t get me wrong it was my first time in Egypt and I fell in love with the country immediately, striking me as a place blessed with 365 days a year of sunshine, amazing history and tourist attractions. Even hosting one of the seven wonders of the world along with a coast line that rivals that of the Caribbean and to top it off at a recession friendly price with an all inclusive deal that left me musing over it like a countdown numbers game of how the tour operators even made it pay?

Then it all became clear, on arrival at the Airport the Egyptian humidity hit me almost as hard as the sellers at the Airport, just after we had landed, who on earth tries to sell something to you on arrival when all you want to do is get to your Hotel, throw some shorts on and jump in the pool? The Egyptians, that’s who, as they are desperate for the sale.

The next morning we were met with the same aggressive sales tactics whilst making our way from the restaurant area to the pool, “My friend, come and buy” and “English” was blurted out by a row of shop keepers simultaneously whilst each one tried to usher us into their market arcade style shop. I hate this style of hard sell and the truth was we were actually looking for a lilo, but were put off by this aggressive approach.

The next day we visited the harbour and looked around the shops for that all important souvenirs (and of course the lilo we still hadn’t bought) and were met with the same hard sell time after time with pushy stall holders trying to sell us mainly counterfeit goods at inflated prices. This time, ready and willing to buy, I did just that at about 20% of the price that they first stated and whilst I was at it tried to make them realise that the hard sell isn’t always the best way and sometimes actually alienates people into not wanting to buy off you at that moment or worse still, ever again or even walk past the place. As you can imagine my Egyptian is not great and a lot of what I was trying to say was lost in translation, although what was unmistakable was the raw thirst in their eyes for a sale, which seemed to override anything else, the raw thirst that I had on my first day trading at 19, the one that didn’t see going home empty handed that night as an option.

This thirst for a sale is the type of motivation that is key to maintaining a healthy bottom line and for me is maintained by constantly setting myself new targets. Although of course, like anything, it has to be controlled and used wisely, to be on the buying end of the deal instead of a selling for a change did me the world of good and made me realise that there is a very fine line between being persuasive and being pushy, being a bit of a maverick and being a mither.

Our Markets are a great place to shop, visit and just have a good old walk round, it is our job to make sure that we continue to make everyone’s trip to see us an amazing customer experience. Promoting the atmosphere Great British Markets are famous for and ensuring people visit our markets again and again, week after week, year after year, getting value for money on amazing products with a customer service to match. In doing so, spurring on our next generation of traders for the long term and of course our valued regular customers.

You can catch up with my own brand at www.Adamcorbally.co.uk Twitter @TheAdamCorbally